California-based private equity firm buys Quad Graphics plant

Town clerk says village wasn’t notified of sale

MOUNT MORRIS – Little information was available Tuesday on the recent sale of the shuttered Quad Graphics plant.

Village Clerk Paula Diehl, who also serves on the Mount Morris Economic Development Committee, said neither the village nor the committee has been notified of the sale.

According to property transfer documents filed with Ogle County Clerk and Recorder Rebecca Huntley, the entire property at 404 N. Wesley Ave. was bought Feb. 21 by Mount Morris Business Park LLC, of Downey, Calif., for $375,000.

Diehl said she has no information about the company or its name.

“They haven’t consulted us,” she said.

The property transfer, filed March 14, lists World Color Mount Morris LLC as the seller. Quad Graphics, based in Sussex, Wis., bought World Color Press Inc. for $1.3 billion in January 2010.

Greg Schain, a spokesman for the company, did not return a phone call Tuesday afternoon.

Quad Graphics is using the plant as a warehouse to store printing equipment.

For decades, it was the village’s largest employer, at one time providing jobs for more than 2,000 people. Originally called Kable Brothers Printing, the business was founded in 1898 by twins Harvey and Harry Kable. Quad Graphics ceased production at the plant on May 13, 2011.